


Stuck in Limbo

by Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth



Series: Going Down With a Fight (Series) [5]
Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Autistic Kobra Kid (Danger Days), Coping and not-coping, Gen, Hard of Hearing Fun Ghoul (Danger Days), Nonbinary Fun Ghoul (Danger Days), Nonbinary Jet Star (Danger Days), Nonbinary Kobra Kid (Danger Days), Nonbinary Party Poison (Danger Days), Semiverbal Kobra Kid (Danger Days), Venom brothers angst, um
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25713274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth/pseuds/Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth
Summary: Waiting and watching and screaming for the sake of doingsomething
Relationships: Fun Ghoul & Jet Star & Kobra Kid & Motorbaby & Party Poison (Danger Days), Kobra Kid & Party Poison (Danger Days)
Series: Going Down With a Fight (Series) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1793005
Comments: 12
Kudos: 22





	Stuck in Limbo

It's been months. And it's been stagnant in the diner. Quiet. There hasn't been any action, nobody's gone on any runs, not since Poison and Kobra got hurt. 

Really, it's because of Poison. Kobra's fine by now, healed with no trace of a limp from the blaster wound(check) in his leg. 

Poison's still having trouble. 

The injuries to their chest and stomach(ch) are still bothering them, making it hard for them to breathe, to move. And the shot to their shoulder's fucked their range of motion real bad. 

Mostly, though, it's the nightmares, and the panic attacks that affect them. Poison wakes up screaming in the night for Kobra, watching them shot down a thousand different times, a thousand different deaths. And nothing can calm them, reassure them their brother's still alive, not even his brother's presence. He'll scream about android replacements, and lies, and conspiracies, and it breaks Kobra's fucking heart. How can it not? Your own brother narrating your death to you every night, scared out of their mind. Kobra hates it like nothing else.

Or like almost nothing else. Because Poison's having flashbacks, too. Metal will catch the sunlight, and Poison thinks it's laserbeams. Or the Girl will shriek in laughter and Poison only hears her screaming for help. It's the worst when Kobra's gone, when Poison can't see his brother, reassure himself they're safe. So Poison and Kobra are always together, while Kobra works on their bike, while Poison takes walks around the diner to recover their strength, while Kobra goes to bed early and Poison tries their best not to keep them awake. It doesn't work.

Kobra doesn't know what to do. He'd do anything for his brother, and he has done everything for his brother, and it's still not enough. Poison isn't getting better, worrying about the what-ifs. And Kobra needs space. And he hates himself for it, but he just needs to go, to escape. So he slips out of bed when Poison's passed out beside him on the mattress, bandages still peeking out from beneath their shirt, and he leaves, on foot, so the sound of his bike doesn't alert the others. And it's not like Kobra doesn't know Poison's going to wake up screaming, and not be able to find them. But Kobra needs to _go_ , to _break free_ , to get the chance to do something somewhere other than the diner he's been stuck at for months.

He ends up at the stony ruins of an old house, ancient even before the Analogs, where nothing remains besides the skeleton. It's covered in years of graffiti, and Kobra leans in what used to be a first floor window, letting his eyes follow the shifting, interlocking patterns of spraypaint scribbles. It's peaceful, all alone like this, and quiet without the constant noises that come with living in a diner with four other people, with the presence of your older brother never leaving the same room as you. Kobra breathes in the solitude of the early morning. The sun hasn't risen yet, the only light coming from the flashing whirl of satellites, and beyond them, the stars. Kobra stands up again after a while, and stretches, taking delight in the ability to break the quiet of the desert with his noise, and his noise only. They hum, off-key, and then shout for the sake of shouting, looking up to see the satellites and twirling around to follow them in their interlocking paths, careening across the sky. He falls, dizzy, and laughs, pushing his sunglasses back against the bridge of his nose before returning to look at the sky. It's bright, and beautiful, quiet and noisy and bold all at once, and he loves it.

After a while, Kobra gets up again and sts off, still heading further away from the diner. The sun rises as they walk, and Kobra realizes he isn't well-prepared to spend much longer out in the sun. So he heads in the direction of the radio station, reaching it in a few hours' time, just as the light and heat begin to reach unbearable levels. 

They walk in casually, heading to the kitchen for a glass of water, and Doctor Death-Defying looks at them like he's seeing a ghost.  
"Holy hell, Kobra, are you alright?" Kobra nods.  
"Why?" D frowns.   
"Sign that again?" Kobra does, and D raises an eyebrow. "'Why?' The whole of the Zones is looking for you, K. Apparently you dissappeared outta your bed last night, and nobody can figure why. Your brother's distraught, Kobra."

Oh.

They hadn't thought it would be _that bad_. Kobra frowns.  
"Sorry."  
"Damn right, you're sorry!" D continues to berate Kobra as he makes his way into the broadcast room, where Cherri Cola's taking a nap at the desk. Kobra leans over him to grab the portable radio, and Cherri wakes up with a start.  
"Kobra! What are you doing here?" Kobra doesn't answer, busy radioing the diner. Cherri calls to the other room. "D, Kobra's here!"  
"I know! Ask them what the hell they thought they were doing, going off in the middle of the night like that!" Cherri raises an eyebrow at Kobra, who ignores him again, tapping out a Morse code message to Jet Star on the other end. Ey reply verbally, and the relief in eir voice is palpable.   
"Get back here as soon as you can, okay? Ghoul and Poison are out in the Trans Am, driving around looking for you." Kobra replies, tapping too fast for Cherri to understand.  
"Yeah, I'll call them up now. Get the hell back home, and keep running." Kobra signs off, faint smile on his face.

Cherri drives Kobra back to the diner, making small remarks about the weather, races at the Crash Track, Zone bands' newest releases, while Kobra tells him to keep his eyes on the road, not Kobra's hands. There's nothing much to crash into out here anyways, Cherri says, and Kobra flips him off.

He doesn't follow Kobra ino the diner, though, not as Jet Star and the Girl wait in the doorway, Jet Star's arms crossed, expression stern. The Trans Am roars past him as he leaves, and Cherri Cola doesn't envy the lecture Kobra's gonna get in a few minutes. He doesn't envy any of it, really, not with the way things have been these past few months.

Jet Star and Kobra are sitting across from each other, silent, in a diner booth as Poison rushes in, coughing and wheezing like they've just run ten miles. Fun Ghoul enters after, silently handing them a can of water from the kitchen. It takes Poison far too long to regain his breath, hunched over in the seat next to Jet Star, eyes wide as he heaves and coughs. Finally, he speaks.  
"What- Where did you go? Kobra, shit, I was so worr--" He breaks off to cough again, and doesn't stop for a long time. Kobra's nails dig into their palms hard enough to leave crescent-shaped bruises for days afterwards. He doesn't say anything, and eventually, Poison stands up, leaning heavily on the table, and Jet Star helps them to the bedroom.   
"I understand why you did it." Fun Ghoul's voice is low, and they're chewing at their lips as they speak. Kobra points to his own lips, and Ghoul curses, stopping. "I just... I know it's, like, the opposite of what you left for, and still. Maybe next tme you leave, wait for Poison to wake up? Or at least leave a note? Fuck." Ghoul sits down in the booth vacated by Jet Star and Poison, hands signing faster than they're speaking. "They're not doing good, Kobra. I don't know what-- I don't know. Is it better to let him stay by you forever? Or to force him to give you space?" Ghoul shakes their head, and Kobra doesn't reply. He reaches a hand out to Ghoul, and Ghoul takes it, and they sit like that for a long time, until the Girl emerges from the back rooms to bug them about food. "Shit, Girl, I'm sorry you're all caught up in this, too," Ghoul says, resting a hand on her shoulder as they walk past. "It's not right."  
"That's okay. Is Poison gonna be alright? When are they gonna feel better?" Ghoul and Kobra shake their heads in unison.  
"I don't know, Girlie. I really don't."  
"Oh."

Kobra slips back into the bedroom that night, and Jet Star looks at them with a faint smile, standing up from where ey've been holding Poison's hand as he sleeps.  
"I'm gonna leave now, okay? Come get me or Ghoul if Poison wakes up, if they need anything." Kobra makes a face.  
"I can take care of them." Jet Star doesn't reply, pulling the door closed as ey leave. Kobra sinks dow nonto the mattress as gently as he can. He left for a few hours, at most, and he fucked everything up. Poison can't bear to be away from him, and he left. Kobra doesn't sleep much that night, and Poison wakes up screaming twice, the second time too weak to fight Kobra as he holds them.

And for days afterwards, the two don't speak to each other, and neither do they leave each other's sight. Kobra feels twice as tethered down now as before he left, and there's nothing he can do about it. Poison's weaker now, too, he thinks, needing to stop and rest more often, spending more time laying down in the bedroom than out in the diner. It's awful, and Kobra doesn't know what to do, and neither do any of the others. They're not equipped to deal with anything like this, not emotional problems, and not injuries that don't heal right. Kobra doesn't even have the freedom to break down alone, in the privacy of an empty bedroom, because Poison's always a few feet away, watching them with tired eyes.  
"I'm sorry," Kobra signs, and Poison turns away.  
"You left me. I woke up and you were gone, and I thought you were dead, were never coming back--" Poison breaks off again, coughing, and Kobra rests a hand on his back as they wait it out together. "I thought you left forever." Kobra stands up, and Poison tenses. "Please--" but they only head to the dresser, only reaching over to grab his notebook and pencil.   
"I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking." He crosses that out, starts again as Poison leans over his shoulder to read. "I was thinking. I knew it would hurt you, and still, I left anyways. It wasn't good." Poison snorts.  
"Damn right it wasn't good! You left!"   
"I did. I needed to go." Kobra underlines 'go'. "Not forever, not even for very long, but I needed to breathe my own air, be alone for a bit." Poison nods.  
"That makes sense, but--" Kobra cuts them off with a gesture.  
"Please let me get through this. I was wrong to leave without telling you. I was wrong to make you worry. And, I think if I had tried to tell you, you wouldn't have let me go, right?"   
"Well--" Poison shuts himself up, this time.  
"We should have had this talk a long time ago, I think. We should have talked."  
"We should have, you're right. I'm sorry."  
"I am too." Kobra flips over to a blank page. "I love you."  
"I love you too, Kobra."

And things aren't fixed _just like that_ , not instantly, but Poison understands when Kobra needs space. And Kobra keeps communicating, keeps letting Poison know how they feel, instead of just going along in silence. 

But Poison still wakes up screaming every night, and their cough isn't getting any better.

**Author's Note:**

> Yet another sequel! This doesn't wrap anything up at all, lol. I've got another one planned, though, maybe that will be the last in this series. I'm not sure :)  
> Leave a comment below, and find me on tumblr @wishiwasthemoon-tonight!


End file.
